By BEN LYNFIELDSpecial to the National Catholic ReporterDehaisheh
Refugee Camp, West Bank

It was near Bethlehem that Pope John
Paul IIs pilgrimage turned into a charged carnival of politics and
nationalism.

Proceeding on March 22 from a reception by Palestinian Authority
Chairman Yasser Arafat to a Mass near the Church of the Nativity, and then to a
school in a refugee camp on a barren hillside, John Paul, to Palestinians,
became a powerful symbol of solidarity.

No one can ignore how much the Palestinian people have had
to suffer in recent decades, the pope said upon his arrival in Bethlehem.
Your torment is before the eyes of the world. And it has gone on too
long.

In the Dehaisheh refugee camp, home to more than 8,500 mostly
impoverished Moslems who live in drab concrete structures, the pope urged
residents not to lose heart.

Dear refugees, do not think that your present condition
makes you any less important in Gods eyes, he said. Never
forget your dignity as his children.

Organizers at the camp had seated the pope beneath a banner in
English that was actually a powder keg. It said, The right of return is a
sacred right. At the camps entrance the right of return was
expressed by young refugees through song, dance and art.

The pope was thus encouraged, apparently unknowingly, to endorse
the most controversial demand in the Arab-Israeli conflict: that Palestinian
refugees and their descendants, who lost their homes during the 1948 War from
which Israel emerged, be enabled to return to their places of origin. Most of
these are now Israeli farms or towns.

Israel says it cannot absorb the 3.1 million Palestinian refugees
without forfeiting its very identity as a Jewish state.

Yet the pope took pains to signal solidarity with Israelis, too.
In Jerusalem on Thursday, John Paul shifted gears from current events to
history, standing in the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial and expressing grief for
Jewish suffering during the Second World War.

There are no words strong enough to deplore the terrible
tragedy of the Shoah, the pope said. I assure the Jewish people
that the Catholic church, motivated by the gospel law of truth and love, and by
no political considerations, is deeply saddened by the hatred, acts of
persecution and displays of anti-Semitism directed against the Jews by
Christians at any time and in any place.

While some Jewish leaders were disappointed that John Paul did not
acknowledge a Christian role in making the Holocaust possible, Israeli Prime
Minister Ehud Barak said the pope had done more than any leader to dress
the bitter wounds that festered over many bitter centuries.

The pope also was due Thursday to lead Mass in the chapel of the
Last Supper on Mount Zion, meet with Israeli President Ezer Weizman and lead an
interfaith gathering. On Friday, he was to hold Mass at the Mount of Beatitudes
and meet with Barak and on Saturday to visit Nazareth. On Sunday, the last day
of the pilgrimage, the pope was due to visit the Western Wall and Aqsa Mosque
in Jerusalem and lead Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

John Pauls officials have repeatedly insisted that his trip
is spiritual rather than political. Yet Palestinians were heady with what
seemed to them a ringing endorsement of their political aims.

In remarks before celebrating Mass in Bethlehem, the pope sounded
like a head of state, saying the Palestinians have a natural right
to a homeland. He also insisted that U.N. resolutions on the Arab-Israeli
conflict would need to be implemented and said he hoped his visit would serve
as a reminder that decisive action is needed on behalf of the
Palestinians.

The Holy See has always recognized that the Palestinian
people have the natural right to a homeland and the right to be able to live in
peace and tranquility with the other peoples of this area, he said.

In policy terms, the statements did not depart from traditional
Vatican positions, and thus did not burn any bridges with Israel on the eve of
the historic visit to Yad Vashem.

In an embarrassment for the Palestinian Authority, youths from
Dehaisheh pelted Palestinian policemen with stones shortly after the
popes departure. The violence was said by Palestinians to have been
touched off by anger over tough treatment meted out to some camp residents by
Palestinian security forces.

The popes first brush with the zero sum politics of the
Middle East came almost as soon as he landed near Tel Aviv on Tuesday on a
flight from Jordan. After being presented by Israeli children with a jar of
sacred soil to kiss, the pope was told by President Ezer Weizman that Jerusalem
is the eternal capital of Israel.

In receiving the pope in Bethlehem, Arafat rebutted by terming
Jerusalem the eternal capital of Palestine. There too the pope
kissed a bowl of soil, a potent symbol for Palestinians since the gesture is
generally reserved for sovereign nations.

In Dehaisheh, tents were erected for the pope to press the point
that the camp is but a temporary home. In front of the camp, a local artist
displayed a tire, two bottles and a piece of wood split in half. The tire
symbolized the burning tires of the Intifada, the 1987-93 uprising against
Israel. The bottles conjured up Molotov cocktails used during clashes with
Israeli soldiers, and the wood - splattered with red paint - symbolized the
frustrated right of return.

In welcoming remarks, Assad Abdul-Rahman, the senior PLO official
handling refugee affairs, urged the pontiff not to think of Israel in biblical
terms but rather as a victimizer of the Palestinians.

The narrow concept of the promised land has caused all of us
a lot of suffering, Abdul-Rahman said. It is time for this to come
to an end. There is no way of turning this promised land into a promising land
without the right of return of the Palestinian refugees.

John Paul, who oversaw Vatican recognition of the Jewish state in
1993 and is viewed by Israeli officials as a friend of the Jewish people,
stopped short of openly endorsing the right of return. But at one point he
seemed to be leaning closer to the Palestinian view of history than the Israeli
one, telling his audience: You bear the sad memories of what you were
forced to leave behind.

In traditional Israeli historiography, Palestinians left their
homes voluntarily, thinking they would soon return after an Arab victory. In
the Palestinian view, the refugees were forcibly expelled.

Thiab Ayyoush, president of al-Quds Open University in Jerusalem,
praised the popes visit and statements.

We know there is a kind of sensitivity for every guest
visiting Palestine about expressing ideas on the full rights of the
Palestinians. But at least we know that his holiness the pope understands our
issue and is with our national and human rights. I didnt expect from him
more than what he gave. We are satisfied with it, Ayyoush said.

The Mass in Manger Square was briefly held up when a Moslem call
to prayer resounded from the adjacent Omar Ibn al-Khattab mosque, causing the
pope to pause and the Latin Patriarch of the Holy Land, Michel Sabbah, to
declare that it was a symbol of Christian-Moslem coexistence.

Not everyone agreed. They dont respect our
prayers, said Ghadir Hilal, 17, one of several thousand attending the
Mass.

Hamdi Hamida, 29, emerging from mosque prayers, termed the
popes visit positive for peace. But Mahmoud Ali Saad, 25,
another Moslem worshipper, said it was insignificant. This is very usual.
We have a religious man visiting religious places. He cannot help us with our
everyday life because of the presence of [Israeli] occupation. He cannot solve
the problem that there is no land for our state.

For the Christians, he is a holy man, Saad added.
For us, he is a regular guest.

Christians, who comprise less than a third of Bethlehems
population due to emigration in recent decades and a higher Moslem birth rate,
said the popes presence was lifting their spirits.

Today is one day that I dont feel bad about being a
minority, said Suad Joseph, 30. Added Hiyam Balout, 37: The whole
world thinks that Palestine is a Moslem country. This visit is proof of our
Christian presence.

Israeli leaders, for their part, sought to play down the
significance of John Pauls pronouncements. He made a speech about
identification with the suffering of the Palestinians and we, too, think that
there should be a just solution. That does not in any way mean the right of
return, said Haim Ramon, the minister responsible for the popes
visit.

Ramon said the popes presence affords an opportunity for
Israel to show the world that it is sovereign in East Jerusalem. That area,
annexed to Israels capital after it was captured during the 1967 war, is
also claimed by the Palestinians as the capital of the state to which they
aspire.

Yasser Arafat may sit in Bethlehem and talk about Jerusalem.
But we are actually here in the city. We receive the pope in Jerusalem. We run
this city and we rule in it, Ramon told reporters. The city is
completely adorned by Israeli flags and all of it is under our
control.

Ramon was right. No Palestinian flags were visible Wednesday in
East Jerusalem. Israeli police made sure of that.

Several Palestinians were removed from the city for
putting up flags in the Sawane neighborhood near the popes lodgings,
Jerusalem Police Spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said.

Nidal Abu Gharbiyeh, 29, said police forced him and 10 other
Palestinian residents of Jerusalem who hung up flags to sign statements that
they would stay out of the city until the pope leaves. Abu Gharbiyeh said he
spent two days in jail for hanging up Palestinian flags.

Abdul-Rahman, the PLO official, told the pope at Dehaisheh that
the 11 flag hoisters were the newest refugees created by Israel and
were deported from Jerusalem simply because they were trying to give you
a warm Palestinian welcome.

The full text of John Pauls remarks at the Dehaisheh
refugee camp and at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial can be found on the
NCR Web site underhttp://www.natcath.com/NCR_Online/documents/index.htm. Wire services
contributed to this report.